Atlético v Sporting CP background
Eager to atone for an early UEFA Champions League exit with a third UEFA Europa League crown, Atlético Madrid are seeking a fifth true win in a foe this open as they horde Sporting Clube de Portugal in a initial leg of a quarter-final during a Estadio Metropolitano.
• Having crossed over to a UEFA Europa League after finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group, Atlético done light work of both Danish champions FC København in a turn of 32 and Russian joining leaders Lokomotiv Moskva in a turn of 16, winning all 4 matches and racking adult 13 goals.
• Third also in their UEFA Champions League group, Sporting kick Astana 6-4 on total in a turn of 32 before circumference past Viktoria Plzeň in additional time of their turn of 16 tie, Rodrigo Battaglia’s header giving a Lisbon bar a 3-2 feat over a dual legs.
Previous meetings
• Atlético and Sporting met in a turn of 16 of a initial 2009/10 UEFA Europa League, with a Spanish club, coached by Quique Sánchez Flores, going by on divided goals after a 0-0 pull in Madrid was followed by a 2-2 pull opposite Carlos Carvalhal’s side in Lisbon. Sergio Agüero scored twice past Sporting goalkeeper Rui PatrÃcio to assistance Atlético validate for a quarter-finals of a foe they went on to win.
• Atlético have won 8 of their 18 UEFA foe matches opposite Portuguese clubs (D4 L6) and 5 of a 9 in Madrid (D2 L2). The final Portuguese visitors to a Estadio Vicente Calderón, Benfica, won there in a 2015/16 UEFA Champions League organisation theatre (2-1) – Atlético’s usually better in their final 23 European fixtures during their former home (W18 D4).
• Diego Costa was on aim in any of Atlético’s dual home games opposite Portuguese antithesis before to that Benfica better – organisation wins opposite FC Porto in a 2013/14 UEFA Champions League organisation theatre (2-0) and Académica Coimbra in a before season’s UEFA Europa League (2-1).
• Defeated in their final 5 matches opposite Spanish clubs, Sporting have never won in 12 trips to Spain (D3 L9), and a goalless pull during Atlético in 2009/10 is a usually time they have avoided better in their final 7 visits. Those embody a wilful 3-1 detriment during Athletic Club in a second leg of a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League semi-final and a 2-0 better during Barcelona in this season’s UEFA Champions League.
Form guide
• Atlético have won 14 of their final 15 home fixtures in a UEFA Europa League, subordinate included, and have nonetheless to concur in their dual victories during a Estadio Metropolitano.
• UEFA Europa League victors in 2010 and 2012, Atlético are creation their initial coming in a foe in 5 years. Since afterwards Diego Simeone’s side have seemed in dual UEFA Champions League finals and reached a quarter-finals and semi-finals in dual other seasons.
• Atlético have won 3 of their 5 European matches in their new stadium, losing a initial of them 1-2 to Chelsea on matchday dual of this season’s UEFA Champions League. That, however, is a Madrid club’s usually better in their final 16 European home games (W12 D3).
• Atlético have mislaid usually once during home in 11 UEFA Europa League knockout proviso encounters – 0-2 to Rubin Kazan in 2012/13. They went 8 games undefeated during a Vicente Calderón during a competition’s knockout rounds (W5 D3) en track to lifting a prize in 2009/10 and 2011/12.
• Successful in both of their UEFA Europa League quarter-finals, opposite Valencia in 2009/10 (2-2 away, 0-0 home) and Hannover in 2011/12 (2-1 home, 2-1 away), Atlético’s altogether record in UEFA foe quarter-final ties is W15 L5, a many new of those victories carrying come opposite Leicester City in final season’s UEFA Champions League (1-0 home, 1-1 away). They have mislaid usually one of their 20 home games during a quarter-final theatre (W14 D5) – 2-3 opposite Ajax in a 1996/97 UEFA Champions League – and have not conceded in any of a final four.
• The Madrid bar have won all 4 of their UEFA Europa League fixtures this tenure – a usually bar to have achieved 100% success in a initial dual knockout rounds.
• Atlético finished third in a Spanish Liga final season, and this is usually a second time in 8 attempts that they have unsuccessful to swell over a organisation theatre of a UEFA Champions League. However, on a usually other occasion, in 2009/10, they went on to win a UEFA Europa League.
• Sporting have mislaid 7 of their final 10 European divided fixtures – and 19 of their final 28 (W4 D5). They have won usually dual and mislaid 11 of their final 17 games outward Lisbon in a UEFA Europa League, with a 3-1 turn of 32 feat in Astana finale a run of 11 divided games though a win (D6 L5) in a UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League knockout phase.
• The Lions, who finished runners-up in a 2004/05 UEFA Cup, losing a final in their possess track to CSKA Moskva (1-3), are in a UEFA Europa League quarter-finals for a second time. They won a initial such tie, overcoming Metalist Kharkiv 3-2 on total in 2011/12 (2-1 home, 1-1 away).
• This is Sporting’s tenth quarter-final in UEFA competition. They have won 5 of a before 9 though have never won a divided leg (D4 L5), those defeats including a 0-2 retreat opposite Real Sociedad in a 1982/83 European Cup on their initial revisit to Spain.
• Sporting finished third in final season’s Portuguese Liga and reached a UEFA Champions League organisation theatre with a 5-1 win divided to Romanian side FCSB in a play-offs, that clinched an total success by a same margin. They finished third in their territory behind Barcelona and Juventus.
Links and trivia
• This is a usually tie between dual teams that have formerly participated in a UEFA Europa League quarter-finals. Indeed, they are a usually dual clubs still in a margin that have before knowledge of a semi-finals.
• Atlético are a usually former UEFA Europa League winners in a quarter-finals, nonetheless CSKA Moskva carried a UEFA Cup in 2005.
• Sporting have participated in 7 of a 9 UEFA Europa League campaigns. Only Ajax (eight appearances) have been concerned in more.
• Sporting trainer Jorge Jesus coached a organisation in a UEFA Europa League, organisation theatre to final, for a 50th time in their turn of 16 second leg during Viktoria Plzeň. Only one other manager has reached that foe miracle – three-time prize leader Unai Emery (59 games).
• Rui PatrÃcio has been on a margin for each notation of Sporting’s 12 European encounters in 2017/18. He has kept usually dual purify sheets.
• Atlético defenders Diego GodÃn and José MarÃa Giménez are Uruguay inhabitant team-mates of Sporting centre-back Sebastián Coates.
• Sporting defender Jérémy Mathieu has played alongside Antoine Griezmann for France.
• Rui PatrÃcio and William Carvalho were in a Portugal side that degraded Griezmann’s France 1-0 after additional time in a UEFA EURO 2016 final. There is a statue of a goalkeeper in his home city of Leiria depicting a fantastic save he done from a Griezmann header in that Stade de France showpiece.
• Atlético’s Jan Oblak (Benfica, Olhanense, Leiria, Rio Ave) and Diego Costa (Penafiel, Braga) have both represented Portuguese clubs, while Fábio Coentrão (Real Madrid), Mathieu (Valencia, Barcelona) and Cristiano Piccini (Real Betis) have all played in Spain.
• Fábio Coentrão is on loan to Sporting from Atlético’s city rivals Real Madrid. In 5 seasons with a Merengues he faced Atlético 12 times, recording 6 wins (including a 2014 UEFA Champions League final), one pull and 5 defeats.
• Vitolo and Kevin Gameiro both played in Sevilla’s feat in a 2014 UEFA Europa League final over a Benfica side coached by Jorge Jesus; Gameiro scored a wilful chastisement in a shoot-out after a 0-0 pull in Turin.
• Diego Costa and Filipe LuÃs were in a Chelsea side that degraded Sporting twice in a 2014/15 UEFA Champions League organisation theatre (1-0 away, 3-1 home); Stefan Savić faced Sporting for Manchester City in a second leg of a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League turn of 16, that City won 3-2 though were separated on divided goals.
• Spanish clubs have scored 498 goals in a UEFA Europa League, organisation theatre to final. This is a 299th compare in a foe correct featuring a organisation from Spain. Both total are annals for a singular nation.
• Sporting span Coates and William Carvalho lapse from one-match bans for this match.
• Suspended for subsequent compare if booked: Ãngel Correa (Atlético); Marcos Acuña, Fábio Coentrão, Gelson Martins, Bruno Fernandes, Rodrigo Battaglia, Bas Dost (Sporting).
The coaches
• Diego Simeone has been a Atlético manager given Dec 2011, and has combined 5 trophies to a club’s collection, including a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League, as good as steering a Madrid bar to a UEFA Champions League finals of 2014 and 2016. The warlike ex-Argentina midfielder also had dual spells during Atlético as a player, winning a Spanish double in 1995/96.
• Jorge Jesus was lured to Sporting from Lisbon rivals Benfica in 2015 after 6 seasons as conduct manager with a Eagles that brought 10 domestic trophies, including 3 Liga titles, and dual runners-up berths in a UEFA Europa League – in 2012/13 to Chelsea and 2013/14 to Sevilla. His comparatively watchful personification career started with Sporting in a early 1970s.